As special counsel Robert Mueller builds his case, relatives of former National Security Adviser Michael Flynn are among those pressing the president to use his unique legal power and ‘put these defendants out of their misery.’

The European Medicines Agency’s move to Amsterdam after Brexit was supposed to make for smooth sailing and a happy 900-member staff.

As the afterglow of winning the contest to host the EU’s drug regulator subsides, some unpleasant realities of the shift to the Dutch capital are coming to light.

The building that will eventually host the agency will not be ready until the end of 2019 or even early 2020, according to two Dutch officials. The EMA has to move out of London by the end of March 2019, so it faces using one or more temporary buildingsin different parts of Amsterdam for its sensitive work on drug approvals until the new permanent premises are ready.

An EMA official wrote that “each of the proposed temporary premises has weaknesses which raises concerns about EMA’s continuity of operation even if this is only for a period limited in time,” according to an internal email from November 28seen by POLITICO.

“We know that it will not be smooth, they know,” EMA Executive Director Guido Rasi said, pointing to Dutch officials at a meeting with all agency staff in London on November 24, according to a video recording of the meeting seen by POLITICO. “We already shared some common concerns, which means that we are realistic, we are not overpromising, but we are deeply committed to make it the best that can be done.”

Delivering on promises and expectations

Amsterdam topped the preferences of EMA employees in a September survey, with 81 percent of them saying they would move to the Dutch city if the agency relocated there.

“Amsterdam ticks many of our boxes,” Rasi said soon after the city was chosen to be the new host. “It offers excellent connectivity and a building that can be shaped according to our needs.”

Amsterdam won’t even settle on a contractor for the EMA’s new building until March 2018

The city has a major airport connecting it to the rest of the world and is just across the English Channel from London. The Dutch promised to ensure the agency could function seamlessly after its relocation. Amsterdam’s proposed transition plan included individual support for each agency employee and doing whatever it took to get the building site ready.

“We also have a very stylish queen and eat fish and chips,” boasted the video presenting Amsterdam as the perfect new home for the EMA.

The Netherlands made it clear when applying to host the EMA that the new offices wouldnot be ready by March 30, 2019, when the agency needs to move out of London because the U.K. ceases to be an EU member that day. It didn’t specify when the agency’s building would be fully ready, though, noting only that the offices would be made available throughout 2019.

The European Medicines Agency building in Canary Wharf | Neil Hall/EFE

What it did promise was critical conference facilities would be ready by April 1, 2019, the first working day after Brexit. The EMA relies heavily on experts from across the EU coming together to assess new drug applications, which is why those fully equipped conference facilities are the agency’s most urgent need.

Amsterdam says those meeting rooms in the new building will be ready by April 1, 2019. But that leaves no time to address any issues that come along with new construction. And while the Dutch bid promises to deliver meeting spaces, it’s not clear it will have the 4G internet connection, audio and video conference equipment, and a voting system per seat to satisfy EMA needs from Day One.

And it will be a further seven or eight months before the time the rest of the building is completed and all EMA staff are in one place, said Udo Kock, Amsterdam’s deputy mayor for finance and economic affairs.

Temporary workspaces for some staff could “have implications for the operational efficiencies during the transition period,” said one assessment published in September which was commissioned by the pharma lobby EFPIA. It’s not yet clear whether staffers would be split between multiple sites in Amsterdam.

One proposed temporary office building is two metro stops away or a maximum 10-minute walk from the EMA’s ultimate destination in Amsterdam, Maurice Galla, the project leader of the Dutch EMA candidacy, said at the EMA meeting.

“The biggest hurdle is that by the time we have to move, our new building in Amsterdam will not be ready for us,” Rasi told members of the European Parliament’s environment and public health committee Thursday. “We are working with the Dutch authorities to find another solution — the temporary building will be crucial for our business continuity as of March 2019.”

Winning strategy becomes Achilles’ heel

Constructing a new building was supposed to be a strength of the city’s bid, with the Dutch authorities wanting to give the EMA a fully customized new home similar to the one it has to leave in the Canary Wharf business district of London, Kock said.

For others in the 16-way race to win the agency that had a ready-made space, including Italy and Denmark, Amsterdam’s win may now seem especially bitter. The Italian and Danish cities competed head-to-head with the Netherlands in the three-round voting session on November 20.

Amsterdam won’t even settle on a contractor for the EMA’s new building until March 2018, Marcel van Raaij, a director in the Dutch health ministry, told EMA staffers at the November 24 meeting.

And an internal EMA email sent late November 28, after the EMA staffers in charge of the relocation visited the premises in Amsterdam, raised concerns that the proposed temporary premises had weaknesses, “especially in terms of the amount of workspaces, of internal meeting rooms, of facilities as regards reprographics, local archiving.” The agency needs a minimum 850 workspaces and 15 internal meeting rooms, with at least one of them able to host 30 people and the necessary space for reprographics and internal archives, preferably in only one building, the email said.

“Therefore due consideration should be given first at finding alternatives where not only these weaknesses can be addressed, but in addition also external meeting rooms could be provided (to minimize as much as possible travel time for staff for running and contributing to the external meetings),” the email said.

The EMA has to move out of London by the end of March 2019 | Robin Utrecht/EFE via EPA

This email is “completely outdated,” an EMA press officer said, adding that site visits are ongoing and that a first official step on the relocation process will be announced at the EMA Management Board scheduled for December 13 and 14. A spokesperson for the Dutch Health Ministry said it does not recognize concerns about the weaknesses of each of the proposed temporary premises because the EMA team is still visiting some of the potential temporary buildings.

A European Commission assessment in September said the office floors were expected to be ready as much as six months after April 1. The Commission did not inspect the building plans and said it was up to the country that won the agency to comply with the promises it made in its bid.

Asked whether the Commission can help speed up the building in any way, one Commission official responded: “Volunteer.”

wow

The ‘financial district’ looks like one of our social housing (council) estates from this photo.

I’m genuinely surprised.

Posted on 12/8/17 | 7:37 AM CET

wow

‘“Amsterdam ticks many of our boxes,” Rasi said soon after the city was chosen to be the new host….

The city has a major airport connecting it to the rest of the world and is just across the English Channel from London.’

Why would they need to be near London? Would not the ‘new’ thing to be near Brussels or Paris?

Trololol. It slips out, they don’t mean to, but it just happens.

Posted on 12/8/17 | 7:40 AM CET

Alexandre

It’s not too late to switch to Copenhagen, lol.

I’m observing a worrying trend in inability of the Western society to deliver on major infrastructure projects: Berlin airport, Brussels new stadium, now this… what happened to the project management skills?

Posted on 12/8/17 | 8:39 AM CET

Saintixe

Who cares. The agreement today to start Phase 2 gives oxygen for building process.

Posted on 12/8/17 | 8:47 AM CET

Alex

@wow

“the financial district looks like one of our social housing”…Never been to Amsterdam? Long flight from Moscow or genuinely ignorant?

Whereas on the benefits of being close to London is because those employees had London as their home for maybe 10-20 yrs. Of course proximity to London ranked high in their preferences, and yet 81% of them did decide to move.

Posted on 12/8/17 | 9:47 AM CET

cinceur

@wow

Yes, but then their council estates look like our science parks. Amsterdam is a stunning city.

Posted on 12/8/17 | 9:53 AM CET

chrish

Surely it would be a lot easier just to stay in London until the new office is ready. Less expensive and less disruptive. And give more time for staff to prepare. What’s the hurry. In the agreement they just signed all EU members will be able to stay working in London.

Posted on 12/8/17 | 3:46 PM CET

dc

Slovaks that were deprived of EMA must be more and more surprised learning all that.

Posted on 12/8/17 | 3:56 PM CET

freddie silver

@ chrish
“…Surely it would be a lot easier just to stay in London until the new office is ready…”
Exactly. Unless the anti Brexiters want to imply that there is an expulsion order to be applied in March 2019. While business remains business it seems to me (and please correct me if I am wrong) that if the EMA pays rent they can stay at their convenience (leaving aside posturing for pride).

Posted on 12/8/17 | 7:19 PM CET

MLB

I must say that this is not okay, Amsterdam you have fought for this Agency to relocate to you. Furthermore you have promised a Smooth transition for the EMA.
I have 1 thing to say to the Netherlands PAY UP. If you need 2 shift teams construction workers then that is what you have to do. Extending construction hours for the site in regards to law then you do that.
Just pay what it costs to get it ready as you promised, You have a responsibility to make the move are done in order to least disrupt the EMA’s Work.
Deliver on the terms that you have put forward in your application.

Posted on 12/8/17 | 10:42 PM CET

wow

@cinceur

really? because I can see some awful dwelling there at the front of the picture, surrounding the ‘financial centre’ and they don;t look anything like a science park.

REALITY. I just saw it with my own eyes. It;s in the picture above you.

Do you mean *some* council estates in Amsterdam look like that. Please do stop telling lies and spreading fake news when the proof is in the picture of the article right above you!

OH DEAR!

Posted on 12/9/17 | 7:09 AM CET

Dan

@cinceur
“Amsterdam is a stunning city.”

+1

Posted on 12/9/17 | 12:29 PM CET

Dee

@Wow

They need to be near London because a lot of families are staying in London so spouses have to commute. Also finance for this sector on the scale required can only be raised in the City. Also UK life sciences are really important to the success of this agency. Do not be surprised if as part of the negotiations the agency stays in Canary Wharf.

Posted on 12/11/17 | 7:29 PM CET

Mollan

The summary is that the Dutch falsely claimed that the building would have been ready by 2019. This will not happen and “the Dutch bid” was therefore a fraud. Very dishonest from them and disappointing for the EU/EMA people that did not verified the claims.

Posted on 12/13/17 | 10:46 AM CET

Bianca

Well the employees got what they deserved: an ugly building, next to social housing estates (vandalism?) , bad bus and tram connections (no underground in Amsterdam), no direct connection to the airport (first you have to get to the central station, than take a train to the airport), expensive public transport, it looks like a real social Siberia. If you do not like the canteen food, well no other alternatives around. Whereas Milan was offering the ‘Pirellone’ one of the architectural hallmarks of the city, in the heart of the city, next to the central train station, direct connection to all Milan airports, and at a stone throw from the fashionable district ‘Isola’. Several underground lines, cheap public transport, a very lively city centre and excellent food. Enjoy your choice!

Posted on 12/14/17 | 4:16 PM CET

Bianca

@dee
“Also UK life sciences are really important to the success of this agency”
Actually this agency is important for the success of UK life sciences, since there are other thriving centres for the pharma industry: France, Germany, Belgium, Italy, etc. just to mention a few. It is not British life sciences / pharma industry who are promoting the EMA, but the other way round. Another thing is the lobbying. It is true that it controls the EMA, but it does not need the vicinity of the ‘posting’ industry.
“Do not be surprised if as part of the negotiations the agency stays in Canary Wharf.”
After Brexit?!? Dream on…